Electronic musician Lilstiffy back in Whanganui with new album

The Lilstiffy project began in Wellington in 2014. Photo / Supplied

Electronic musician Lilstiffy has returned to Whanganui from Tokyo and he's brought a new album, Ecma, with him.

The Lilstiffy project began in Wellington in 2014, he said.

"It started with making beats and working with rappers, and running regular club nights.

"I got sick of Wellington and decided to move to Tokyo, and I pretty much did the same thing there, playing a lot of club nights and organising shows. I was working away and doing my thing, and I lived over there for about three years.

"We came back to New Zealand to have a baby, and I'm from Whanganui originally, so it's a central hub that works really well for us while this virus sorts itself out."

Ecma is his second full length, and Lilstiffy said the production and equipment had improved from his earlier tracks, and the music had become "a bit more clubby" compared to his earlier "Vaporwave" style.

The album is dedicated to the memory of Auckland musician Reuben Winter, who died last year.

"The first album [In Da Mix] was made using gear that everybody else hated, like a Roland MC-303 Groovebox.

"The sounds on it are absolutely dog s**, and the functionality is really bad. It had 50 user settings and you could only use about 10 of them before you ran out of memory.

"Everyone hates it, so I just thought 'right, I'm going to make music with just that', almost as a f*** you to audiophiles and synth nerds.

"I like making things work with equipment that people can be quite pretentious about. In the spirit of Lilstiffy, it's not what you've got, it's how you use it."

He was living in Tokyo when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

"I've never lived in a city where the Olympics was meant to happen, so that was pretty huge, and I've never lived in a city where the Olympics was cancelled [postponed].

"It was such a weird vibe, really dystopian. You're living in a chaotic city with people everywhere and stuff happening all the time, and suddenly it's a ghost town.

"We'll definitely go back when things die down though. I started a coffee company over there, so I've got to go back and help them out."

Ecma had taken around a year to complete, Lilstiffy said, and the initial aim had been to splice up Jungle and Gqom vocal samples to make them sound like scat vocals.

"I wanted to make a scat album, but it ended up turning into something else. It just kept evolving and moving.

"The MC-303 didn't make it on there though, mainly because it was in storage."

While he and his family are currently based in Whanganui, Lilstiffy said they planned to return to Tokyo once Covid-19 was a little more under control.

"Japan has a culture where they'll see something that's doing well and just go apesh** with it.

"Japanese denim is incredible, and Japanese whiskey is winning international awards all over the place. They just go really, really hard and make things even better. Coffee is no exception, and neither is music. Here, a lot of bands can be pretty rough and ready, but over there, no one will play until it's immaculate and absolutely perfect.

I'm loving being back here at the moment though. It's amazing to be able to play shows again, and I've got a few lined up.

"I'm pretty grateful for that."

To listen to his new album, Ecma, go to:
www.patternrecognitionlabel.bandcamp.com/album/ecma.